Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States (1908 - 1973) - Genealogy Lyndon Baines Johnson, 36th President of the United States Also Known As: in Stonewall, TX, United States Cause of death: his third heart attack & he had severe heart disease Place of Burial: United States President, Vice President, United States House of Representative, U S Senator, teacher, 36th President Managed by: sister About Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States The thirty-sixth President of the United States (1963–1969) and thirty-seventh Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). A Democrat, Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and after completing Kennedy's term was elected President in his own right in a landslide victory in the 1964 Presidential election.

Johnson was a major leader of the Democratic Party and as President was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included civil rights laws, Medicare (government-funded health care for the elderly), Medicaid (government-funded health care for the poor), aid to education, and the "War on Poverty." Simultaneously, he escalated the American involvement in the Vietnam War from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968. Johnson served as a United States Representative from Texas from 1937–1949 and as United States Senator (as his grandfather[1] foretold when LBJ was just an infant) from 1949–1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was selected by John F. Kennedy to be his running-mate for the 1960 presidential election.

Johnson's popularity as President steadily declined after the 1966 Congressional elections, and his reelection bid in the 1968 United States presidential election collapsed as a result of turmoil within the Democratic party related to opposition to the Vietnam War. He withdrew from the race to concentrate on peacemaking. Johnson was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his arm-twisting of powerful politicians. Johnson was maternally descended from a pioneer Baptist clergyman, George Washington Baines, who pastored some eight churches in Texas as well as others in Arkansas and Louisiana. Baines was also the president of Baylor University during the American Civil War. George Baines was the grandfather of Johnson's mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson. Johnson's grandfather Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. was raised as a Baptist. Subsequently, in his early adulthood, he became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

In his later years he became a Christadelphian.[2] According to Lady Bird Johnson, Johnson's father also joined the Christadelphian Church toward the end of his life.[3] Later, as a politician LBJ was influenced in his attitude towards the Jews by the religious beliefs that his family, especially his grandfather, had shared with him Johnson briefly taught public speaking and debate in a Houston high school, then entered politics. Johnson's father had served five terms in the Texas legislature and was a close friend to one of Texas's rising political figures, Congressman Sam Rayburn. In 1930, Johnson campaigned for Texas State Senator Welly Hopkins in his run for Congress. Hopkins recommended him to Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, who appointed Johnson as Kleberg's legislative secretary. LBJ was elected speaker of the "Little Congress," a group of Congressional aides, where he cultivated Congressmen, newspapermen and lobbyists. Johnson's friends soon included aides to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as fellow Texans such as Vice President John Nance Garner. He became a surrogate son to Sam Rayburn. Lyndon Baines Johnson is Dorothy Willard's 9th cousin four times removed.

Dorothy Willard→Onad Duncan your mother→Edith Davis her mother→Albert Dewitt Worley her father→Alanson Dewitt Worley his father→Judith S Worley his mother→ Daniel Law her father→Sarah Law his mother→Abner Cockerham her father→ Sarah Sally Cockerham his mother→Elizabeth Hamblen her mother→John Watkins her father→John Watkins his father→Henry Watkins his father→Elizabeth Bottom his sister →Thomas Bottom her son→Francis Estes his daughter→Dice Kirby her daughter→ George Kirby her son→Dicea Perrin his daughter→Mary Elizabeth Huffman her daughter →Ruth Ament Baines her daughter→Rebekah Johnson her daughter→Lyndon Baines Johnson her son. The 36th President of the United States (1963–1969) and 35th Vice President of the United States (1961–1963). Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, completed Kennedy's term and was elected President in his own right in a landslide victory in the 1964 Presidential election.

Johnson was a major leader of the Democratic Party and as President was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included civil rights laws, Medicare (government-funded health care for the elderly), Medicaid (government-funded health care for the poor), aid to education, and the "War on Poverty." Simultaneously, he escalated the American involvement in the Vietnam War from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 500,000 in early 1968. Johnson served as a United States Representative from Texas, from 1937–1949 and as United States Senator (as his grandfather[1] foretold when LBJ was just an infant) from 1949–1961, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was selected by John F. Kennedy to be his running-mate for the 1960 presidential election.

Johnson's popularity as President steadily declined after the 1966 Congressional elections, and his reelection bid in the 1968 United States presidential election collapsed as a result of turmoil within the Democratic party related to opposition to the Vietnam War. He withdrew from the race to concentrate on peacemaking. Johnson was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his arm-twisting of powerful politicians. In 1937 Johnson successfully contested a special election for Texas's 10th congressional district, which covered Austin and the surrounding hill country. He ran on a New Deal platform and was effectively aided by his wife. He served in the House from April 10, 1937 to January 3, 1949.[12] President Roosevelt found Johnson to be a welcome ally and conduit for information, particularly with regards to issues concerning internal politics in Texas (Operation Texas) and the machinations of Vice President Garner and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. Johnson was immediately appointed to the Naval Affairs Committee. He worked for rural electrification and other improvements for his district.

Johnson steered the projects towards contractors that he personally knew, such as the Brown Brothers, Herman and George, who would finance much of Johnson's future career.[13] In 1941, he ran for the U.S. Senate in a special election against the sitting Governor of Texas, radio personality W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel in an election marked by massive fraud on the part of both campaigns. Johnson was not expected to win against the popular governor, but he ran a strong race and was declared the winner in unofficial returns — ultimately losing due to controversial official returns. After America entered the war in December 1941, Johnson, still in Congress, became a commissioned officer in the Navy Reserves, then asked Undersecretary of the Navy James Forrestal for a combat assignment.[14] Instead he was sent to inspect the shipyard facilities in Texas and on the West Coast. In the spring of 1942, President Roosevelt needed his own reports on what conditions were like in the Southwest Pacific. Roosevelt felt information that flowed up the military chain of command needed to be supplemented by a highly trusted political aide.

From a suggestion by Forrestal, President Roosevelt assigned Johnson to a three-man survey team of the Southwest Pacific. Johnson reported to General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. Johnson and two Army officers went to the 22nd Bomb Group base, which was assigned the high risk mission of bombing the Japanese airbase at Lae in New Guinea. A colonel took Johnson's original seat on one bomber, and it was shot down with no survivors. Reports vary on what happened to the B-26 Marauder carrying Johnson.

Some accounts say it was also attacked by Japanese fighters but survived, while others, including other members of the flight crew, claim it turned back due to generator trouble before reaching the objective and before encountering enemy aircraft and never came under fire, which is supported by official flight records.[15] Other airplanes that continued to the target did come under fire near the target at about the same time that Johnson's plane was recorded as having landed back at the original airbase.[15] MacArthur awarded LBJ the Silver Star, the military's third-highest medal, although it is notable that no other members of the flight crew were awarded medals, and it is unclear what Johnson could have done in his role purely as an "observer" to deserve the medal, even if his aircraft had seen combat. Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was the thirty-sixth President of the United States, serving from 1963-1969. A Democrat, Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of President John F.

Kennedy, and after completing Kennedy's term was elected President in his own right in a landslide victory in the 1964 Presidential election. Johnson was a major leader of the Democratic Party and as President was responsible for designing the "Great Society" legislation that included civil rights laws, Medicare (government funded health care for the elderly), Medicaid (government funded health care for the poor), aid to education, and the "War on Poverty." Simultaneously, he escalated the American involvement in the Vietnam War from 16,000 American soldiers in 1963 to 550,000 in early 1968. Johnson served as a United States Representative from Texas from 1937–1949 and as United States Senator [just as his grandfather[1] fortold when LBJ was just an infant] from 1949–1960, including six years as United States Senate Majority Leader, two as Senate Minority Leader and two as Senate Majority Whip. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was selected by John F. Kennedy to be his running-mate for the 1960 presidential election.

Johnson's popularity as President steadily declined after the 1966 Congressional elections, and his reelection bid in the 1968 United States presidential election collapsed as a result of turmoil within the Democratic party related to opposition to the Vietnam War. He withdrew from the race to concentrate on peacemaking. Johnson was renowned for his domineering personality and the "Johnson treatment," his arm-twisting of powerful politicians. Johnson died after suffering his third heart attack, on January 22, 1973. Early years Johnson was maternally descended from a pioneer Baptist clergyman, George Washington Baines, who pastored some eight churches in Texas as well as others in Arkansas and Louisiana. Baines was also the president of Baylor University during the American Civil War. George Baines was the grandfather of Johnson's mother, Rebekah Baines Johnson. The President's grandfather Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. was raised as a Baptist. Subsequently, in his early manhood, he became a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

In his later years he became a Christadelphian.[2] According to Lady Bird Johnson, President Johnson's father also joined the Christadelphian Church toward the end of his life.[3] Later, as a politician LBJ was influenced in his attitude towards the Jews by the religious beliefs that his family, especially his grandfather, had shared with him (see Operation Texas).[2][4] Johnson was born near Stonewall, Texas, on August 27, 1908, in a small farmhouse in a poor area on the Pedernales River. His parents, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Jr. and the former Rebekah Baines, had three girls and two boys: LBJ and his brother, Sam Houston Johnson (1914-1978), and sisters Rebekah (1910–1978), Josefa (1912–1961), and Lucia (1916–1997). The nearby small town of Johnson City, Texas was named after LBJ's father's cousin, James Polk Johnson, whose forebears had moved west from Georgia.

In school, Johnson was an awkward, talkative youth and was elected president of his eleventh-grade class. He graduated from Johnson City High School in 1924.[5] In 1925, he worked as an elevator operator in downtown San Bernardino, California.[6][7] In 1926, Johnson enrolled in Southwest Texas State Teachers' College (now Texas State University-San Marcos). He worked his way through school, participated in debate and campus politics, edited the school newspaper, dropped out of school in 1927 and returned one year later, graduating in 1930. The college years refined his skills of persuasion and political organization. In 1927 Johnson taught mostly Mexican children at the Welhausen School in Cotulla, some ninety miles south of San Antonio in La Salle County.

In 1930 he taught in Pearsall High School in Pearsall, Texas and afterwards took a position as teacher of public speaking at Sam Houston High School in Houston.[8] When he returned to San Marcos in 1965, after having signed the Higher Education Act, Johnson looked back: "I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was closed to practically every one of those children because they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my mind that this nation could never rest while the door to knowledge remained closed to any American."[9] [edit] Early political career Johnson briefly taught public speaking and debate in a Houston high school, then entered politics. Johnson's father had served five terms in the Texas legislature and was a close friend to one of Texas's rising political figures, Congressman Sam Rayburn. In 1930, Johnson campaigned for Texas State Senator Welly Hopkins in his run for Congress. Hopkins recommended him to Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, who appointed Johnson as Kleberg's legislative secretary.

LBJ was elected speaker of the "Little Congress," a group of Congressional aides, where he cultivated Congressmen, newspapermen and lobbyists. Johnson's friends soon included aides to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as fellow Texans such as Vice President John Nance Garner. He became a surrogate son to Sam Rayburn. President Roosevelt, Governor James Allred of Texas & Johnson. In later campaigns, Johnson edited Governor Allred out of the picture to assist his campaign President Roosevelt, Governor James Allred of Texas & Johnson. In later campaigns, Johnson edited Governor Allred out of the picture to assist his campaign Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor (already nicknamed "Lady Bird") of Karnack, Texas on November 17, 1934 after having attended Georgetown University Law School for several months. They had two daughters, Lynda Bird, born in 1944, and Luci Baines, born in 1947. Johnson enjoyed giving people and animals his own initials; his daughters' given names are examples, as was his dog, Little Beagle Johnson.

In 1935, he was appointed head of the Texas National Youth Administration, which enabled him to use the government to create education and job opportunities for young people. He resigned two years later to run for Congress. Johnson was a notoriously tough boss throughout his career, often demanding long workdays and work on weekends, and Johnson himself worked as hard as any member of his staff.[10] [edit] House years In 1937 Johnson successfully contested a special election for Texas's 10th congressional district, which covered Austin and the surrounding hill country. He ran on a New Deal platform and was aided effectively by his wife. He served in the House from April 10, 1937 to January 3, 1949[11]. President Roosevelt found Johnson to be a welcome ally and conduit for information, particularly with regards to issues concerning internal politics in Texas (Operation Texas) and the machinations of Vice President Garner and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn. Johnson was immediately appointed to the Naval Affairs Committee. He worked for rural electrification and other improvements for his district.

Johnson steered the projects towards contractors that he personally knew, such as the Brown Brothers, Herman and George, who would finance much of Johnson's future career.[12] In 1941, he ran for the U.S. Senate in a special election against the sitting Governor of Texas, radio personality W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel in an election marked by massive fraud on the part of both campaigns. Johnson was not expected to win against the popular governor, but he ran a strong race and was declared the winner in unofficial returns - ultimately losing due to controversial official returns. [edit] War record After America entered the war in December 1941, Johnson, still in Congress, became a commissioned officer in the Navy Reserves, then asked Undersecretary of the Navy James Forrestal for a combat assignment.[13] Instead he was sent to inspect the shipyard facilities in Texas and on the West Coast. In the spring of 1942, President Roosevelt needed his own reports on what conditions were like in the Southwest Pacific. Roosevelt felt information that flowed up the military chain of command needed to be supplemented by a highly trusted political aide.

From a suggestion by Forrestal, President Roosevelt assigned Johnson to a three-man survey team of the Southwest Pacific. Johnson reported to General Douglas MacArthur in Australia. Johnson and two Army officers went to the 22nd Bomb Group base, which was assigned the high risk mission of bombing the Japanese airbase at Lae in New Guinea. A colonel took Johnson's original seat on one bomber, and it was shot down with no survivors. Reports vary on what happened to the B-26 Marauder carrying Johnson.

Some accounts say it was also attacked by Japanese fighters but survived, while others, including other members of the flight crew, claim it turned back due to generator trouble before reaching the objective and before encountering enemy aircraft and never came under fire, which is supported by official flight records.[14] Other airplanes that continued to the target did come under fire near the target at about the same time that Johnson's plane was recorded as having landed back at the original airbase.[14] MacArthur awarded LBJ the Silver Star, the military's third-highest medal, although it is notable that no other members of the flight crew were awarded medals, and it is unclear what Johnson could have done in his role purely as an "observer" to deserve the medal, even if his aircraft had seen combat. Johnson's biographer, Robert Caro, stated, "The most you can say about Lyndon Johnson and his Silver Star is that it is surely one of the most undeserved Silver Stars in history. Because if you accept everything that he said, he was still in action for no more than 13 minutes and only as an observer.

Men who flew many missions, brave men, never got a Silver Star."[14] Johnson reported back to Roosevelt, to the Navy leaders, and to Congress that conditions were deplorable and unacceptable. He argued the South West Pacific urgently needed a higher priority and a larger share of war supplies. The warplanes sent there, for example, were "far inferior" to Japanese planes, and morale was bad. He told Forrestal that the Pacific Fleet had a "critical" need for 6,800 additional experienced men. Johnson prepared a twelve-point program to upgrade the effort in the region, stressing "greater cooperation and coordination within the various commands and between the different war theaters." Congress responded by making Johnson chairman of a high-powered subcommittee of the Naval Affairs committee. With a mission similar to that of the Truman Committee in the Senate, he probed into the peacetime "business as usual" inefficiencies that permeated the naval war and demanded that admirals shape up and get the job done. However, Johnson went too far when he proposed a bill that would crack down on the draft exemptions of shipyard workers if they were absent from work too often. Organized labor blocked the bill and denounced Johnson.

Still, Johnson's mission had a substantial impact because it led to upgrading the South Pacific theater and aided the overall war effort immensely. Johnson’s biographer concludes, "The mission was a temporary exposure to danger calculated to satisfy Johnson's personal and political wishes, but it also represented a genuine effort on his part, however misplaced, to improve the lot of America's fighting men."[15] [edit] Senate years [edit] 1948 contested election In 1948, Johnson again ran for the Senate and won. This election was highly controversial: a three-way Democratic Party primary saw Johnson facing a well-known former governor, Coke Stevenson, and a third candidate. Johnson drew crowds to fairgrounds with his rented helicopter dubbed "The Flying Windmill". He raised money to flood the state with campaign circulars, and won over conservatives by voting for the Taft-Hartley act curbing unions and by criticizing unions on the stump. Stevenson came in first, but lacked a majority, so a runoff was held. Johnson campaigned even harder, while Stevenson's efforts were poor. The runoff count took a week as the two candidates see-sawed for the lead.

The Democratic State Central Committee handled the count (not the state, because it was a party primary), and it finally announced Johnson won by eighty-seven votes. The committee voted 29-28 to certify Johnson's nomination, with the last vote cast on Johnson's behalf by the Temple publisher Frank W. Mayborn, who rushed back to Texas from a business trip in Nashville, Tennessee. There were many allegations of fraud on both sides. Thus one writer alleges that Johnson's campaign manager, John B. Connally, was connected with 202 ballots in Precinct 13 in Jim Wells County that had curiously been cast in alphabetical order and all just at the close of polling. Robert Caro argued in his 1989 book that Johnson had rigged the election in Jim Wells County, and other counties in South Texas, as well as rigging 10,000 ballots in Bexar County alone.[16] However, the state Democratic convention upheld Johnson. Stevenson went to court, but — with timely help from his friend Abe Fortas — Johnson prevailed. Johnson was elected senator in November, and went to Washington, D.C.

tagged with the ironic label "Landslide Lyndon," which he often used deprecatingly to refer to himself. [edit] Freshman Senator Once in the Senate, Johnson was known among his colleagues for his highly successful "courtships" of older senators, especially Senator Richard Russell, patrician leader of the Conservative coalition and arguably the most powerful man in the Senate. Johnson proceeded to gain Russell's favor in the same way that he had "courted" Speaker Sam Rayburn and gained his crucial support in the House. Johnson was appointed to the Senate Armed Services Committee, and later in 1950, he helped create the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee. Johnson became its chairman and conducted investigations of defense costs and efficiency. These investigations tended to dig out old forgotten investigations and demand actions that were already being taken by the Truman Administration, although it can be said that the committee's investigations caused the changes. However, Johnson's brilliant handling of the press, the efficiency with which his committee issued new reports, and the fact that he ensured every report was endorsed unanimously by the committee all brought him headlines and national attention.

In 1951 Johnson was chosen as Senate Majority Whip under a new Majority Leader, Ernest McFarland of Arizona, and served from 1951 to 1953[11]. [edit] Senate Democratic leader In the 1952 general election Republicans won a majority in both House and Senate. Among defeated Democrats that year was McFarland, who lost to then-little known Barry Goldwater, Johnson's future presidential opponent. In January 1953, Johnson was chosen by his fellow Democrats to be the minority leader. Thus, he became the least senior Senator ever elected to this position, and one of the least senior party leaders in the history of the Senate. The whip is usually first in line to replace party leader (e.g., most recently whip Harry Reid became Senate Minority Leader after Tom Daschle's defeat). He had a big mole on his cheek and surgically removed itOne of his first actions was to eliminate the seniority system in appointment to a committee, while retaining it in terms of chairmanships. In the 1954 election, Johnson was re-elected to the Senate, and since the Democrats won the majority in the Senate, Johnson became majority leader.

LBJ's duties were to schedule legislation and help pass measures favored by the Democrats. He, Rayburn and President Dwight D. Eisenhower worked smoothly together in passing Eisenhower's domestic and foreign agenda. As Majority Leader, Johnson was responsible for passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation passed by the Senate since Reconstruction. Johnson gives "The Treatment" to 90-year-old Rhode Island Senator Theodore F. Green in 1957 Johnson gives "The Treatment" to 90-year-old Rhode Island Senator Theodore F. Green in 1957 Historians Caro and Dallek consider Lyndon Johnson the most effective Senate majority leader in history. He was unusually proficient at gathering information. One biographer suggests he was "the greatest intelligence gatherer Washington has ever known", discovering exactly where every Senator stood, his philosophy and prejudices, his strengths and weaknesses, and what it took to win him over.[17] Robert Baker claimed that Johnson would occasionally send senators on NATO trips in order to avoid their dissenting votes [18]. Central to Johnson's control was "The Treatment",[19] described by two journalists:[20] The Treatment could last ten minutes or four hours.

It came, enveloping its target, at the LBJ Ranch swimming pool, in one of LBJ's offices, in the Senate cloakroom, on the floor of the Senate itself — wherever Johnson might find a fellow Senator within his reach. Its tone could be supplication, accusation, cajolery, exuberance, scorn, tears, complaint and the hint of threat. It was all of these together. It ran the gamut of human emotions. Its velocity was breathtaking, and it was all in one direction. Interjections from the target were rare. Johnson anticipated them before they could be spoken. He moved in close, his face a scant millimeter from his target, his eyes widening and narrowing, his eyebrows rising and falling. From his pockets poured clippings, memos, statistics. Mimicry, humor, and the genius of analogy made The Treatment an almost hypnotic experience and rendered the target stunned and helpless. [edit] Vice Presidency Main article: United States presidential election, 1960 Johnson's success in the Senate made him a possible Democratic presidential candidate. He was the "favorite son" candidate of the Texas delegation at the Party's national convention in 1956.

In 1960, after the failure of the "Stop Kennedy" coalition he had formed with Adlai Stevenson, Stuart Symington, and Hubert Humphrey, Johnson received 409 votes on the first and only ballot at the Democratic convention, which nominated John F. Kennedy. Tip O'Neill, then a representative from Kennedy's home state of Massachusetts, recalled that Johnson approached him at the convention and said, "Tip, I'd like to have you with me on the second ballot." O'Neill, understanding the influence of the Kennedy name, replied, "Senator, there's not going to be any second ballot."[21] During the convention, Kennedy designated Johnson as his choice for Vice President. Some later reports (such as Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s) say that Kennedy offered the position to Johnson as a courtesy and did not expect him to accept. Others (such as W. Marvin Watson) say that the Kennedy campaign was desperate to win the 1960 election against Richard Nixon and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., and needed Johnson on the ticket to help carry Southern states.

According to other sources, Kennedy did not want Johnson to be his running-mate and Vice President, and did not even want to ask him. JFK's reported choice was Symington. Johnson, however, decided to seek the Vice Presidency and with Speaker Rayburn's help pressured Kennedy to give him a spot[22]. At the same time as his Vice Presidential run, Johnson also sought a third term in the U.S. Senate. According to Robert Caro, "On November 5, 1960, Lyndon Johnson won election for both the vice presidency of the United States, on the Kennedy-Johnson ticket, and for a third term as Senator (he had had Texas law changed to allow him to run for both offices).

When he won the vice presidency, he made arrangements to resign from the Senate, as he was required to do under federal law, as soon as it convened on January 3, 1961."[23] (In 1988, Lloyd Bentsen, the Vice Presidential running mate of Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and also a Senator from Texas, took advantage of "Lyndon's law," and was able to retain his seat in Senate despite Dukakis' loss to George H. W. Bush. The same went for Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut in 2000 after Al Gore lost to George W. Bush.) Johnson was reelected Senator with 1,306,605 votes (58 percent) to Republican John Tower's 927,653 (41.1 percent). Fellow Democrat William A. Blakley was appointed to replace Johnson as Senator, but Blakley lost a special election in May 1961 to Tower. After the election, Johnson found himself powerless.

Despite Kennedy's efforts to have Johnson busy, informed, and at the White House often, his advisors and even some of his family were dismissive to the Texan. Kennedy appointed him to nominal jobs such as head of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunities, through which he worked with African Americans and other minorities. Though Kennedy probably intended this to remain a nominal position, Taylor Branch in Pillar of Fire contends that Johnson served to force the Kennedy administration's actions for civil rights further and faster than Kennedy intended to go. Branch notes the irony of Johnson, who the Kennedy family hoped would appeal to conservative southern voters, being the advocate for civil rights. In particular he notes Johnson's Memorial Day 1963 speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania as being a catalyst, that led to much more action than otherwise would have occurred. Johnson took on numerous minor diplomatic missions, which gave him limited insights into international issues. He was allowed to observe Cabinet and National Security Council meetings. Kennedy did give Johnson control over all presidential appointments involving Texas, and he was appointed chairman of the President's Ad Hoc Committee for Science. When, in April 1961, the Soviets beat the U.S.

with the first manned spaceflight, Kennedy tasked Johnson with coming up with a 'scientific bonanza' that would prove world leadership. Johnson knew that Project Apollo and an enlarged NASA were feasible, so he steered the recommendation towards a program for landing an American on the moon. [edit] Presidency 1963–1969 [edit] Assassination of President John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force One by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. To the left of Johnson is Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of Kennedy; to his right is Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, and sitting down near the airplane window is Jack Valenti, founder of the MPAA. Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn in aboard Air Force One by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. To the left of Johnson is Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of Kennedy; to his right is Mrs. Lady Bird Johnson, and sitting down near the airplane window is Jack Valenti, founder of the MPAA.

Two hours and 8 minutes after President Kennedy was shot two cars in front of him in a Dealey Plaza motorcade, Johnson was sworn in as President on Air Force One in Dallas at Love Field Airport on November 22, 1963. He was sworn in by Federal Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a family friend, making him the first President sworn in by a woman. He is also the only President to have been sworn in on Texas soil. Johnson was not sworn on a Bible, as none could be found aboard Air Force One; a Roman Catholic missal was discovered in Kennedy's desk, and this book was used during the swearing-in ceremony.[24] Johnson created a panel headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, known as the Warren Commission, to investigate Kennedy's assassination. The commission conducted hearings and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the assassination. Not everyone agreed with the Warren Commission, however, and numerous public and private investigations continued for decades after Johnson left office.[25] The wave of national grief following the assassination gave enormous momentum to Johnson's promise to carry out Kennedy's programs. He retained the senior Kennedy appointees, some for the full term of his presidency.

Even the late President's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, with whom Johnson had an infamously difficult relationship, remained in office until leaving in 1964 to run for the Senate.[26] [edit] 1964 Presidential election Main article: U.S. presidential election, 1964 On September 7, 1964, Johnson's campaign managers for the 1964 presidential election broadcast the "Daisy ad." It portrayed a little girl picking petals from a daisy, counting up to ten. Then a baritone voice took over, counted down from ten to zero and a nuclear bomb exploded. The message was that Barry Goldwater meant nuclear war. Although it was soon pulled off the air, it escalated into a very heated election.

Johnson won the presidency by a sweeping landslide, winning with 61 percent of the vote and the then-widest popular margin in the 20th century — more than 15 million votes (this was later surpassed by incumbent President Nixon's defeat of Senator McGovern in 1972).[27] In the summer of 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) was organized with the purpose of challenging Mississippi's all-white and anti-civil rights delegation to the Democratic National Convention of that year as not representative of all Mississippians. At the national convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey the MFDP claimed the seats for delegates for Mississippi, not on the grounds of the Party rules, but because the official Mississippi delegation had been elected by a primary conducted under Jim Crow laws in which blacks were excluded because of poll taxes, literacy tests, and even violence against black voters.

The national Party’s liberal leaders supported a compromise in which the white delegation and the MFDP would have an even division of the seats; Johnson was concerned that, while the regular Democrats of Mississippi would probably vote for Goldwater anyway, if the Democratic Party rejected the regular Democrats, he would lose the Democratic Party political structure that he needed to win in the South. Eventually, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Reuther and black civil rights leaders (including Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King, and Bayard Rustin) worked out a compromise with MFDP leaders: the MFDP would receive two non-voting seats on the floor of the Convention; the regular Mississippi delegation would be required to pledge to support the party ticket; and no future Democratic convention would accept a delegation chosen by a discriminatory poll. When the leaders took the proposal back to the 64 members who had made the bus trip to Atlantic City, they voted it down. As MFDP Vice Chair Fannie Lou Hamer said, "We didn't come all the way up here to compromise for no more than we’d gotten here.

We didn't come all this way for no two seats, 'cause all of us is tired." The failure of the compromise effort allowed the rest of the Democratic Party to conclude that the MFDP was simply being unreasonable, and they lost a great deal of their liberal support. After that, the convention went smoothly for LBJ without a searing battle over civil rights.[28] Despite the landslide victory, Johnson carried the South as a whole in the election, lost the Deep South states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina, the first time a Democratic candidate had done so since Reconstruction. [edit] Civil rights President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him is Martin Luther King, Jr. President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Among the guests behind him is Martin Luther King, Jr. In conjunction with the civil rights movement, Johnson overcame southern resistance and convinced Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed most forms of racial segregation. Johnson signed it into law on July 2, 1964.

Legend has it that, as he put down his pen, Johnson told an aide, "We have lost the South for a generation," anticipating a coming backlash from Southern whites against Johnson's Democratic Party.[29] In 1965, he achieved passage of a second civil rights bill, the Voting Rights Act, that outlawed discrimination in voting, thus allowing millions of southern blacks to vote for the first time. In 1967, Johnson nominated civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall to be the first African American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. After the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, Johnson went on television to announce the arrest of four Ku Klux Klansmen implicated in her death. He angrily denounced the Klan as a "hooded society of bigots", and warned them to "return to a decent society before it's too late." He turned the themes of Christian redemption to push for civil rights, thereby mobilizing support from churches North and South.[30] President Johnson meets with Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King in the White House Cabinet Room in 1966. President Johnson meets with Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King in the White House Cabinet Room in 1966.

At the Howard University commencement address on June 4, 1965, he said that both the government and the nation needed to help achieve goals: To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice, but the walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin. To dissolve, as best we can, the antique enmities of the heart which diminish the holder, divide the great democracy, and do wrong — great wrong — to the children of God...[31] [edit] Great Society The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime, and removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Congress, at times augmenting or amending, enacted many of Johnson's recommendations. [edit] Federal aid to education Johnson had a lifelong commitment to the belief that education was the cure for both ignorance and poverty, and was an essential component of the American Dream, especially for minorities who endured poor facilities and tight-fisted budgets from local taxes.

He made education a top priority of the Great Society, with an emphasis on helping poor children. After the 1964 landslide brought in many new liberal Congressmen, he had the votes for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965. For the first time large amounts of federal money went to public schools. In practice ESEA meant helping all public school districts, with more money going to districts that had large proportions of students from poor families (which included all the big cities). However, for the first time private schools (most of them Catholic schools in the inner cities) received services, such as library funding, comprising about 12% of the ESEA budget. As Dallek reports, researchers soon found that poverty had more to do with family background and neighborhood conditions than the quantity of education a child received. Early studies suggested initial improvements for poor kids helped by ESEA reading and math programs, but later assessments indicated that benefits faded quickly and left students little better off than those not in the programs. Johnson’s second major education program was the “Higher Education Act of 1965," which focused on funding for lower income students, including grants, work-study money, and government loans.

He set up the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, to support humanists and artists (as the WPA once did). Although ESEA solidified Johnson's support among K12 teachers' unions, neither the Higher Education act nor the Endowments mollified the college professors and students growing increasingly uneasy with the war in Vietnam.[32] [edit] War on poverty In 1964, upon Johnson's request, Congress passed a tax-reduction law and the Economic Opportunity Act, which was in association with the war on poverty. [edit] Medicare and Medicaid Millions of elderly people were aided by the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act. Johnson gave the first two Medicare-cards to former President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess after signing the medicare bill at the Truman Library. Lower income people received medical care funded by the government through the Medicaid program.[33] Truman (seated right) and his wife Bess (behind him) attend the signing of the Medicare Bill on July 30, 1965, by President Johnson.

Truman (seated right) and his wife Bess (behind him) attend the signing of the Medicare Bill on July 30, 1965, by President Johnson. [edit] Space race NASA made spectacular explorations in the space program Johnson had championed since its start. When three astronauts successfully orbited the moon in December 1968, Johnson congratulated them: "You've taken … all of us, all over the world, into a new era …." [edit] Urban riots Major riots in black ghettos caused a series of "long hot summers." They started with a violent disturbance in Harlem in 1964 and the Watts district of Los Angeles in 1965, and extended to 1970. The biggest wave came in April, 1968, when riots occurred in over a hundred cities in the wake of the assassination of Martin Luther King. Newark burned in 1967, where six days of rioting left 26 dead, 1500 injured, and the inner city a burned out shell.

In Detroit in 1967, Governor George Romney sent in 7400 national guard troops to quell fire bombings, looting, and attacks on white-owned businesses and on police. Johnson finally sent in federal troops with tanks and machine guns. Detroit continued to burn for three more days until finally 43 were dead, 2250 were injured, 4000 were arrested; property damage ranged into the hundreds of millions; much of inner Detroit was never rebuilt.[citation needed] Johnson called for even more billions to be spent in the cities and another federal civil rights law regarding housing, but his political capital had been spent and his Great Society programs lost support. Johnson's popularity plummeted as a massive white political backlash took shape, reinforcing the sense Johnson had lost control of the streets of major cities as well as his party.[34] President Johnson with Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt. President Johnson with Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt. [edit] Backlash against Johnson: 1966–67 Johnson's problems began to mount in 1966.

By year's end the Democratic governor of Missouri warned that Johnson would lose the state by 100,000 votes, despite a half-million margin in 1964. "Frustration over Vietnam; too much federal spending and . . . taxation; no great public support for your Great Society programs; and . . . public disenchantment with the civil rights programs" had eroded the President's standing, the governor reported. There were bright spots, however. In January 1967 Johnson boasted that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a thirteen-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever; however a 4.5% jump in consumer prices was worrisome, as well as the rise in interest rates. Johnson asked for a temporary 6% surcharge in income taxes to cover the mounting deficit caused by increased spending. Johnson's approval ratings stayed below 50 percent; by January 1967 the number of his strong supporters had plunged to 16% from 25% four months before. He ran about even with Republican George Romney in trial matchups that spring.

Asked to explain why he was unpopular, Johnson responded, "I am a dominating personality, and when I get things done I don't always please all the people." Johnson also blamed the press, saying they showed "complete irresponsibility and lie and misstate facts and have no one to be answerable to." He also blamed "the preachers, liberals and professors" who had turned against him.[35] In the congressional elections of 1966 the Republicans gained three seats in the Senate and 47 in the House, reinvigorating the Conservative coalition and making it impossible for Johnson to pass any additional Great Society legislation. [edit] Vietnam War President Johnson increasingly focused on the American military effort in Vietnam. He firmly believed in the Domino Theory and that his containment policy required America to make a serious effort to stop all Communist expansion. At Kennedy's death, there were 16,000 American military advisors in Vietnam. Johnson expanded their numbers and roles following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (less than three weeks after the Republican Convention of 1964, which had nominated Barry Goldwater for President).

LBJ visits Shriners Hospital in Portland, Oregon, in September 1964 LBJ visits Shriners Hospital in Portland, Oregon, in September 1964 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the President the exclusive right to use military force without consulting the Senate, was based on a false pretext, as he later admitted.[36]. It was Johnson who began America's direct involvement in the ground war in Vietnam. By 1968 there were 550,000 American soldiers inside Vietnam; in 1967 and 1968 they were being killed at the rate of over 1000 a month.[37] Politically, Johnson closely watched the public opinion polls. His goal was not to adjust his policies to follow opinion, but rather to adjust opinion to support his policies. Until the Tet Offensive of 1968, he systematically downplayed the war: few speeches, no rallies or parades or advertising campaigns. He feared that publicity would charge up the hawks who wanted victory, and weaken both his containment policy and his higher priorities in domestic issues.

Jacobs and Shapiro conclude, "Although Johnson held a core of support for his position, the president was unable to move Americans who held hawkish and dovish positions." Polls showed that beginning in 1965, the public was consistently 40-50% hawkish and 10-25% dovish. Johnson's aides told him, "Both hawks and doves [are frustrated with the war] ... and take it out on you."[38] It was domestic issues that were driving his polls down steadily from spring 1966 onward. Analysts report that "Vietnam had no independent impact on President Johnson's popularity at all after other effects, including a general overall downward trend in popularity, had been taken into account."[39] He often privately cursed the Vietnam War, and in a conversation with Robert McNamara, Johnson assailed "the bunch of commies" running the New York Times for their articles against the war effort.[40]Johnson believed that America could not afford to lose and risk appearing weak in the eyes of the world.

In a discussion about the war with former President Dwight Eisenhower, Johnson said he was "trying to win it just as fast as I can in every way that I know how" and later stated that he needed "all the help I can get."[41] Johnson escalated the war effort continuously from 1964 to 1968 and the number of American deaths rose. In two weeks in May 1968 alone American deaths numbered 1,800 with total casualties at 18,000. Alluding to the Domino Theory, he said, "If we allow Vietnam to fall, tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii, and next week in San Francisco." When reporters repeatedly pressed Johnson in late 1967 on why he was so committed to the war, Johnson exposed an old war wound to them and said, That is why.[42] Walt Whitman Rostow showing President Lyndon B. Johnson a model of the Khe Sanh area in February 1968 Walt Whitman Rostow showing President Lyndon B.

Johnson a model of the Khe Sanh area in February 1968 After the Tet offensive of January 1968, his presidency was dominated by the Vietnam War more than ever. As casualties mounted and success seemed further away than ever, Johnson's popularity plummeted. College students and others protested, burned draft cards, and chanted, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" Johnson could scarcely travel anywhere without facing protests, and was not allowed by the Secret Service to attend the 1968 Democratic National Convention, where hundreds of thousands of hippies, yippies, Black Panthers and other opponents of Johnson's policy both in Vietnam and in the ghettoes converged to protest. Thus by 1968, the public was polarized, with the "hawks" rejecting Johnson's refusal to win the war, and the "doves" rejecting his continuation of containment. Support for Johnson's middle position continued to shrink until he finally rejected containment and sought a peace settlement. By late summer, however, he realized that Nixon was closer to his position than Humphrey. However, he continued to support Humphrey publicly in the election, and personally despised Nixon.

One of Johnson's well known quotes was "the Democratic party at its worst, is still better than the Republican party at its best".[43] [edit] 1968 Presidential election Main article: U.S. presidential election, 1968 Entering the 1968 election campaign, initially, no prominent Democratic candidate was prepared to run against a sitting President of his own party. Only Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota challenged Johnson as an anti-war candidate in the New Hampshire primary, hoping to pressure the Democrats to oppose the war. On March 12, McCarthy won 42% of the primary vote to Johnson's 49%, an amazingly strong showing for such a challenger. Four days later, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York entered the race. Internal polling by Johnson's campaign in Wisconsin, the next state to hold a primary election, showed the President trailing badly. Johnson did not leave the White House to campaign. President Johnson meets with candidate Richard Nixon in July 1968 President Johnson meets with candidate Richard Nixon in July 1968 Johnson had lost control of the Democratic Party, which was splitting into four factions, each of which despised the other three.

The first comprised Johnson (and Humphrey), labor unions, and local party bosses (led by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley). The second group comprised students and intellectuals who were vociferously against the war, and rallied behind McCarthy. The third group comprised Catholics and blacks; they rallied behind Robert Kennedy. The fourth group was traditional white Southerners, who rallied behind George C. Wallace and his third party. Vietnam was one of many issues that splintered the party and Johnson could see no way to unite the party long enough for him to win reelection.[44] In addition, Johnson was concerned that he might not make it through another term.[citation needed] Therefore, at the end of a March 31 speech, he shocked the nation when he announced he would not run for re-election: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President."[45] He did rally the party bosses and unions to give Humphrey the nomination.

In what was termed the October surprise, Johnson announced to the nation on October 31, 1968, that he had ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam", effective November 1, should the Hanoi Government be willing to negotiate and citing progress with the Paris peace talks. LBJ was not disqualified from running for a second full term under the provisions of the 22nd Amendment; he had served less than 24 months of President Kennedy's term. Had he stayed in the race and won and served out the new term, he would have been president for 9 years, second only to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It is worth noting, however, that Johnson died suddenly, only two days after the end of this hypothetical term, and thus, with hindsight, the prospect of him dying in office appears real.

[edit] Legislation and programs [edit] Major legislation signed * 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964 * 1964: Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 * 1964: Wilderness Act * 1964: Nurse Training Act * 1964: Food Stamp Act of 1964 * 1964: Economic Opportunity Act * 1965: Higher Education Act of 1965 * 1965: Social Security Act of 1965 * 1965: Voting Rights Act * 1965: Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965 * 1967: Age Discrimination in Employment Act * 1967: Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 * 1968: Bilingual Education Act * 1968: Fair housing [edit] Administration and Cabinet (All of the cabinet members when Johnson became President in 1963 had been serving under John F. Kennedy previously.) Official White House portrait of Lyndon B. Johnson Official White House portrait of Lyndon B.

Johnson The Johnson Cabinet OFFICE NAME TERM President Lyndon B. Johnson 1963–1969 Vice President None 1963–1965 Hubert Humphrey 1965–1969 State Dean Rusk 1963–1969 Treasury C. Douglas Dillon 1963–1965 Henry H. Fowler 1965–1968 Joseph W. Barr 1968–1969 Defense Robert McNamara 1963–1968 Clark M. Clifford 1968–1969 Justice Robert F. Kennedy 1963–1964 Nicholas deB. Katzenbach 1964–1966 Ramsey Clark 1966–1969 Postmaster General John A. Gronouski 1963–1965 Larry O'Brien 1965–1968 W.

Marvin Watson 1968–1969 Interior Stewart Lee Udall 1963–1969 Agriculture Orville Lothrop Freeman 1963–1969 Commerce Luther Hartwell Hodges 1963–1965 John Thomas Connor 1965–1967 Alexander Buel Trowbridge 1967–1968 Cyrus Rowlett Smith 1968–1969 Labor W. Willard Wirtz 1963–1969 HEW Anthony Celebrezze 1963–1965 John William Gardner 1965–1968 Wilbur Joseph Cohen 1968–1969 HUD Robert Clifton Weaver 1966–1968 Robert Coldwell Wood 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson biography | birthday, trivia | American U.S. President | Who2 Lyndon B. Johnson Biography U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson replaced the assassinated John F. Kennedy as United States president and oversaw major social reforms and the expansion of the Vietnam War.

Known as a politician’s politician, “LBJ” was a senator from Texas who’d been a powerful member of the Democratic party for two decades when he challenged young Senator Kennedy for the presidential nomination in 1960. (Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower was stepping down after eight years.) Kennedy got the nod, then picked Johnson as his running mate. Kennedy beat Republican candidate (and Eisenhower’s vice-president) Richard M. Nixon , and Johnson became vice-president in 1961. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on 22 November 1963 and Johnson succeeded to the presidency. Easily re-elected over staunch conservative Barry Goldwater in 1964, LBJ was able to pass sweeping social legislation including the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. His decision to escalate American involvement in Vietnam, however, proved to be extremely unpopular. He chose not to seek another term and retired in 1969; he was succeeded by none other than Richard Nixon. Extra credit Johnson married Claudia Alta Taylor , known as ‘Lady Bird,’ in 1934; they had two daughters, Lynda Bird (b. 1944) and Luci Baines (b.

1947)… After he became president, Johnson gave up alcohol and drank tea, Tab and Fresca… Like FDR and JFK before him, Johnson was sometimes called by his initials: LBJ… He was the 36th president. Lyndon B. Johnson - U.S. Presidents - HISTORY.com Lyndon B. Johnson A+E Networks Introduction Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-73) became the 36th president of the United States following the November 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). Upon taking office, Johnson, a Texan who had served in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, launched an ambitious slate of progressive reforms aimed at alleviating poverty and creating what he called a “Great Society” for all Americans. Many of the programs he introduced–including Medicare and Head Start–made a lasting impact in the areas of health, education, urban renewal, conservation and civil rights. Despite his impressive domestic achievements, however, Johnson’s legacy was equally defined by his failure to lead the nation out of the quagmire of the Vietnam War (1954-75).

He declined to run for a second full term in office, and retired to his Texas ranch after leaving the White House in January 1969. Google Early Years Lyndon Baines Johnson was born on August 27, 1908, near the central Texas community of Johnson City, which was named for some of his relatives. He was the first of five children of Sam Ealy Johnson Jr. (1877-1937), a farmer, businessman and state legislator, and his wife, Rebekah Baines Johnson (1881-1958). The young Johnson graduated from Southwest State Teachers College (now called Texas State University-San Marcos) in San Marcos, Texas, in 1930. To help pay for his education, he taught at a school for disadvantaged Mexican-American students in southern Texas. This firsthand look at the effects of poverty and discrimination made a deep impression on Johnson and sparked in him a lifelong desire to find solutions to these problems. Did You Know? In 1967, Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights lawyer and great-grandson of a slave, became the first African American to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

He was nominated by President Johnson, who called it "the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place." In 1931, Johnson moved to Washington , D.C., to serve as congressional secretary for newly elected U.S. Representative Richard Kleberg (1887-1955) of Texas. Energetic and capable, Johnson began to meet influential people and learn about the political process. On November 17, 1934, he married Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor (1912-2007), a fellow Texan with whom he later had two daughters, Lynda (1944-) and Luci (1947-). In 1935, Johnson returned home to become the Texas director of the National Youth Administration, a federal program aimed at helping young people find jobs or volunteer work during the Great Depression. Congressional Career Johnson’s political career began in earnest in 1937, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Quickly earning respect as a smart and hardworking legislator, he was re-elected five times. After an unsuccessful run for a U.S.

Senate seat in 1941, Johnson became the first member of Congress to volunteer for active duty in the military when the United States entered World War II (1939-45). He reported for active duty in December 1941 and served in the Navy as a lieutenant commander until all members of Congress in the military were recalled to Washington in the summer of 1942. In 1948, Johnson was elected to the U.S. Senate following a bruising Democratic primary. After crisscrossing Texas by helicopter, Johnson managed to eke out a victory in the primary by 87 votes. Once he reached the Senate, Johnson showed a deft political touch. In 1953, at age 44, he became the youngest person ever to serve as minority leader of the Senate. Two years later, when Democrats won control of Congress, Johnson became the Senate majority leader. His ability to work productively with Republican President Dwight Eisenhower (1890-1969) and unite his party behind important legislation made him a powerful figure in Washington. White House Years In 1960, John F.

Kennedy , the Democratic presidential nominee, invited Johnson to be his vice presidential running mate. Johnson’s presence on the ticket attracted the support of conservative Southern Democrats and helped lift Kennedy to a narrow victory over Republican candidate Richard Nixon (1913-94). On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Johnson was sworn in as president later that day aboard Air Force One, and immediately reassured a shocked and grieving nation that he would make Kennedy’s progressive vision for America a reality. He declared a “war on poverty” and pushed Congress to pass legislation attacking illiteracy, unemployment and discrimination. After routing Republican candidate Barry Goldwater (1909-98) by more than 15 million votes in the 1964 presidential election, Johnson introduced a slate of new reforms that he said would build a Great Society for all Americans. His ambitious legislative agenda created the Medicare and Medicaid programs to provide federal health insurance for elderly and poor Americans. It also included measures aimed at improving education, preventing crime and reducing air and water pollution.

Johnson also made great strides in attacking racial discrimination by signing the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. His wide-reaching achievements improved the lives of millions of Americans and contributed to economic growth and prosperity. Undone by the Vietnam War Despite Johnson’s success in promoting his domestic reform policies, however, his presidency was equally defined by the failure of his policies toward Vietnam. Like the three presidents before him, Johnson was determined to prevent North Vietnamese Communists from taking over the U.S.-supported government of South Vietnam. He believed that America’s national security depended on containing the spread of communism around the world. As part of this effort, Johnson steadily escalated U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War . The number of American troops in Vietnam soared from 16,000 when he first took office in 1963 to more than 500,000 in 1968, yet the conflict remained a bloody stalemate. As the war dragged on and American and Vietnamese casualties mounted, anti-war protests rocked college campuses and cities across the U.S. Johnson’s popularity within his own party plummeted as well.

When it appeared that he might face a stiff challenge for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination, Johnson announced his decision not to run for re-election. “I shall not seek, nor will I accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president,” he said in a nationally televised speech on March 31, 1968. Johnson explained that he wanted to focus on the peace process and pressing domestic issues without the distraction of a political campaign. The conflict in Vietnam, though, brought him nothing but pain and frustration during his last months in office, and U.S. military involvement in Vietnam continued for four years after his departure from Washington in January 1969. Final Years Following the inauguration of Republican President Nixon, Johnson retired to his Texas ranch, where he spent the next few years establishing his presidential library (which opened in 1971 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin) and writing his memoirs. He died of a heart attack at age 64 on January 22, 1973, at his ranch. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault . Start your free trial today. Tags Lyndon B.

Johnson - Know Your Presidents Know Your Presidents 36th President of the United States In office November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969 Vice President 37th Vice President of the United States In office January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 President January 3, 1955 – January 3, 1961 Whip January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1955 Whip January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953 Leader January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1961 Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas‘s 10th District In office April 10, 1937 – January 3, 1949 Preceded by January 22, 1973 (aged 64) Stonewall, Texas, U.S. Lady Bird Taylor (m.

1934; his death 1973) Children Lynda Bird and Luci Baines Alma mater Presidential Medal of Freedom (Posthumous; 1980) Signature Born in Stonewall, Texas, on August 27, 1908, Lyndon Baines Johnson’s family had settled in Texas before the Civil War. His guardians, Samuel Ealy Johnson Jr. what’s more, Rebekah Baines Johnson, had three young ladies and two young men. Lyndon was the most established, conceived August 27, 1908. The adjacent town of Johnson City was named after the Johnson family, known for cultivating and farming. Lyndon’s dad was a farmer and low maintenance lawmaker, however did not acquire the family’s farming ability and kept running into money related trouble, losing the family cultivate when Lyndon was in his initial high schoolers. Lyndon B. Johnson battled in school, however figured out how to move on from Johnson City High School in 1924. He selected at Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) and took an interest in level headed discussions and grounds governmental issues.

In the wake of graduating in 1930, he quickly taught school, however his political desire had officially come to fruition: In 1931, Lyndon B. Johnson won an arrangement as authoritative secretary to Texas Democratic Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, and migrated to Washington, D.C. He rapidly assembled a system of congressmen, newspapermen, lobbyists and companions, including helpers to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1934, Lyndon B. Johnson met Claudia Alta Taylor, referred to her companions as “Woman Bird.” Claudia soon turned into Johnson’s top assistant. She utilized an unobtrusive inherence to bankroll his 1937 keep running for Congress, and ran his office for quite a while. She later purchased a radio station and after that a TV channel, which made the Johnsons well off. After the Japanese shelling of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, President Roosevelt helped Lyndon B. Johnson win a commission in the U.S. Maritime Reserve as a lieutenant administrator. Lyndon B. Johnson served on a voyage through the South Pacific and flew one battle mission. Not long into the mission, Lyndon B.

Johnson’s plane was compelled to turn back because of mechanical trouble, however he figured out how to get a Silver Star award for his interest. Before long, he came back to his administrative obligations in Washington, D.C. In a nearby and dubious race, Lyndon B. Johnson was chosen as a congressperson for Texas in 1948. He progressed rapidly and, with is associations, turned into the most youthful minority pioneer in Senate history in 1953. Democrats won control of the Senate the next year, and Lyndon B. Johnson was chosen greater part pioneer. Lyndon B. Johnson had an uncanny capacity to accumulate data on his kindred administrators, and knew where each of his associates remained on political issues. With mind blowing influence abilities and a forcing vicinity, he could “catch opening” political partners and rivals alike to persuade them regarding his mindset. In this manner, he could get section of various measures amid the Eisenhower organization. By 1960, Lyndon B. Johnson had set his sights on the White House. Be that as it may, he was overpowered by the youthful and enthusiastic congressperson from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, who was designated for president on the first tally at the Democratic Convention.

Kennedy understood that he couldn’t be chosen without the backing of conventional Southern Democrats, a large portion of whom had supported Lyndon B. Johnson. Consequently, after the tradition, Kennedy offered Lyndon B. Johnson the bad habit administration and Lyndon B. Johnson acknowledged. Lyndon B. Johnson conveyed the South, and the JFK/LBJ ticket won the decision against Republican hopeful Richard Nixon by the littlest of edges. In spite of the fact that never agreeable in the part, as VP, Lyndon B. Johnson headed the space program, supervised arrangements on the atomic test boycott settlement, and attempted to push through equivalent open door enactment for minorities. He additionally unequivocally upheld Kennedy’s choice to send American military counsels to South Vietnam to battle off a comrade rebellion. In any case, Lyndon B. Johnson was never in Kennedy’s inward circle and was baffled by his absence of impact, especially on authoritative issues. On November, 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas while going in a motorcade. Lyndon B. Johnson was just two autos behind Kennedy when the shots rang out. Only a couple of hours after the fact, Lyndon B.

Johnson was confirmed as the 36th president on board Air Force One on its arrival to Washington, D.C. Throughout the following year, he embraced the late president’s projects and pushed through Congress his very own couple, including a tax break and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – the first compelling social liberties law since Reconstruction. In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson kept running for the administration against moderate Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. With open opinion to a great extent for Democrats and Goldwater’s staunch conservatism, Lyndon B. Johnson won by an embarrassing margin; he got 61 percent of the prevalent vote – the greatest edge of triumph in U.S. race history. Lyndon B. Johnson utilized his decision command to take up arms against neediness in the United States and socialism in South East Asia. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson pushed a clearing administrative plan known as the “Incomparable Society,” which would turn into the most goal-oriented and extensive local system in the country’s history.

With solid bipartisan bolster, scores of bills were passed that championed urban recharging, instruction, expressions of the human experience, ecological beautification and preservation, and the advancement of discouraged areas in the nation. Extraordinary Society enactment additionally incorporated the section of the Medicare and Medicaid acts and the Voting Rights Act, and prompted the foundation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 1968, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. By 1967, the raising war in Vietnam was expending Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Feedback encompassed his organization’s treatment of the war found in the country’s media, and hostile to war dissents had started to spring up on school grounds and real urban areas. By 1968, more than 500,000 U.S. troops were in Vietnam, and there appeared to be not a single end to be found. As the following decision crusade outfitted, Democrats were split into four groups, every loathing the other three, and Lyndon B. Johnson hosted lost control of his get-together. His endorsement rating dove to 36 percent. On March 31, 1968, Lyndon B.

Johnson stunned the country by declaring that he would not look for re-decision. At the point when Lyndon B. Johnson left office in January 1969, peace talks in Vietnam were under way, however it would take an additional four years before the United States was totally out of Vietnam. Lyndon B. Johnson kicked the bucket all of a sudden of a heart assault at his Texas farm on January 22, 1973. The day preceding his demise, he had discovered that peace was close by in Vietnam.

Question: Who succeeded Lyndon B Johnson as President of the United States?
Answer: Richard Nixon